Segway Alternative Robin M1

[JW Hunter]

I seriously believe the challenge for the Robin, or any other Chinese knockoffs that they send over here, is the lack of support by any substantive or established company to stand behind the warranty and service the device.

If reading the blogs & websites promoting the Robin is any indication as to their quality control it will leave much to be desired.

I suspect there won't be many who are willing to throw $3000 up against the wall in hopes that someone will answer the phone when they have an issue.

[RobinM1]

That is a very good point you make. We will be the first to agree on that statement, except for the part about the robin being a cheap knock off, lol

We offer excellent customer service for the Robin's we sell, we cant speak for others who sell the robin's, but we treat all our customers the way we want to be treated.

If there is a problem with the Robin, we stand behind our customer until the problem is resolved, interestingly enough we have had very very few problems with the Robins, the few problems we have had, we delt with them accordingly, and the customer was happy in the end.

But yes, we absolutely agree with you, customer service for some of the Robin sellers could be better, but far as we go, we do everything within our power to fix the problem should one arrise.

Roboscooters is still a young company and so is Robstep ( the manufacturer ) our goal in the future is to not only to sell and service the robins but to sell and service Segways as well.

[JW Hunter]

I didn't say anything about the Robin being "cheap"… I did allude to the fact that it is a knockoff and it is most certainly a knockoff.

I actually don't think it is "cheap" at all, at the end of the day I'd buy a Segway because I know where they're assembled and I know where the company is located. We always hope to get what we pay for and it is often the case that we get exactly that.

Abraham Lincoln has been quoted as saying:

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

Best of luck to you in your endeavors.

[RobinM1]

Very well Spoken as Im sure youre not the only one who feels that way, and we completely understand, were as human as you are and just as much American . so we can relate.

[Rolacoy]

You all are just feeding the dog. Stop feeding him and he will go away.

[Bob.Kerns]

I am going to be charitable here, and assume that you believe what you're saying.

You are seriously mistaken about how patents work. I will not try to judge whether the Robin violates Segway's patents. That is for Segway, INC to determine, and then the courts, if they choose.

But the fact that there are patents on the Robin is absolutely ZERO protection against infringement against Segway's patents!

The reason this is important to me is, if you and the manufacturer are proceeding in ignorance, and DO get sued, and lose, one of the possible outcomes is that you will be barred from selling. This will harm your customers.

There's much to like about the Robin. But I'm not about to invest my hard-earned money based on the assurances of non-infringement from someone who clearly doesn't even understand what infringement IS.

The same is true, to a lesser degree, with the matter of the Segway trademark. Trademarks only become generic if the owner of the trademark does not take steps to protect them. We know for a fact that Segway actually does protect their trademark. They have sent cease-and-desist letters to a number of websites and other operators in the past few weeks.

So you are mistaken in your belief that "Segway" is a generic term. There are ways you CAN refer to the Segway brand, in the form of a comparison, but I would advice consulting an attorney on that.

If you are honest in your belief that you are doing nothing wrong, then I am doing you a favor in pointing these things out. You are setting yourself AND your customers for failure.

The *ideal* outcome here, would be for your manufacturer (or maybe even you) to reach a licensing agreement with Segway. Such an agreement would free you from the legal issues, help your marketing (because customers would have more confidence) and also give Segway some revenue in recognition to their contribution to the technology.

Exactly how much revenue that ought to be, I can't say. To start with, you would need to read each of Segway, INC's patents, examining the Claims section, and comparing them with what the Robin does.

I also can't say that Segway, INC, would be open to a licensing deal. I would hope so -- but I kind of doubt it. But new ownership might do things differently.

In any event -- the response you are seeing here is not because this is bunch of closed-minded haters. Such people are pretty unlikely to use a Segway, actually. Rather, it's directly in response to how you are doing business.

But I'm not surprised by it. Given the issues with patents, and how the Robin was being promoted to potential distributors, I don't think anyone who would approach it differently, would have agreed to become a distributor in the first place.

In all honesty, I think you have been played for a sucker. Whether it is your ethics or your ignorance which has made vulnerable, I can't say.

It's a shame. I think the people behind the Robin put in a lot of hard work, and brought a fair bit of engineering talent to the table. I did some research into the company a while back. Reading between the lines, there seems to be some sort of industrial incubator with Guangdong University of Technology, that has helped them move from idea to fairly large-scale production far quicker than Segway Inc was able to achieve.

The product would offer a quite distinct alternative to what Segway INC is offering. As a consumer, I'd like to see more choices like this.

But if you're going to fail over legal issues, I hope it's soon and less painfully. Maybe something positive could even come out of it -- a partnership, rather than a legal battle you'd lose. But that would require creativity on the Segway INC side that I don't expect to see...

[KSagal]

Originally Posted by RobinM1

oooooo k, here we go again. There you go being abusive with your words and saying your thrashing me and not the robin, when in essence I have done nothing wrong to force my opinion on anybody,.... ( do you know it's harder to get honey from a bee hive when you kick it )

Okay, here I will agree, in that I have used much more aggressive and negative words than you. But, of course, I am not trying to coerce anyone to do anything, but rather to expose a sweet speaking salesman. And for the record, it does not matter about kicking the bee hive, if the honey you want to collect is actually owned by someone else.


We have not overly posted anything about the robin for defending accusations about the name segway. Type in google, segway alternative, theres even a site called segscooters.

We didnt come into your back yard and talk trash about your back yard or try to get people to leave and come to our party, we came into your back yard with good intentions of elevating you to a new perspecitve on the Segway options and alternatives that are available on the market today, you just didnt want to hear it, your motto is I shouldnt be here anyways, thats the way you've come off.
You speak of new Segway Options, but you do not have Segway options, as they would need to come from Segway. You attempt to make believe that your copies are a segway option, but they are not, anymore than a picture of a sunset is a sunset.

Not once have we said anything negative about the segway, and if you judge the robin M1 on my words and not the machine, then you have to judge the segway on your words and not just the machine.
This is a good point, but not true. I know segways, own segways, and have compared them against other copies. I have not had the opportunity with the Robbin. Where can I test one, or speak to someone who owns one? I have said before and say again, I am open and curious to check one out.

You have come off as very insecure and jealous of the Robin M1 and it's attempt to enter the main market, and the only excuse you can find to dislike it, is that you dislike me and my words...Because we use the word ( segway ) alternative. Not hardly. Worthy competition improves the market. Have at it, just do not lie or do illegal things.

If we have upset you it was unintentional and we will be the bigger man so to speak ( Im a woman by the way ) and apolojise, as we would only like to educate the public about the robin m1, .... unfortunately we've spent allot of time arguing the point of the segway word and not enough about the features about the Robin. This is a fair statement, but as you have assigned motives to my statements that were inaccurate (insecure and jealous)I'll assign the same two words to your motives about real Segways. I do believe you were not intending to upset, but the unintentional part was that you were not expecting to be held accountable to the actual words you are using.

To that end, it appears that there are many spelling and gramatical errors in your postings, yet you seem very lucid and have a good vocabulary. I wonder, are you using a translator? Where are you posting from? I am Posting from near Boston, in the US.

We would love to tell all the features and benefits of the robin, if we can get people to get over the fact that it's not just us who use segway to describe there product, there are literraly hundreds of sites on the internet that advertise segway style, segway alternative, segway type, and so forth, so clearly we didn't come to this tacktic on our own.
We would also like to hear of the features and benefits of the Robbin, but other infringements of the Segway brand do not motivate me to discount your inappropriate use of it, and those other products do not come to this forum and post here, or they would get similar responses.

We can clearly refrain from this if it's going to keep you upset, our goal is not to upset anyone, but yet to educate the public on the advantages of the robin. If you will refrain from thrashing me and the Robin Im sure I can come up with some excellent points to point out for the Robin in some future posts.

I too would like to dial back the negative rhetoric, and lets hear some of those excellent points, and where to try one.

Originally Posted by RobinM1

That is a very good point you make. We will be the first to agree on that statement, except for the part about the robin being a cheap knock off, lol

We offer excellent customer service for the Robin's we sell, we cant speak for others who sell the robin's, but we treat all our customers the way we want to be treated.

If there is a problem with the Robin, we stand behind our customer until the problem is resolved, interestingly enough we have had very very few problems with the Robins, the few problems we have had, we delt with them accordingly, and the customer was happy in the end.

But yes, we absolutely agree with you, customer service for some of the Robin sellers could be better, but far as we go, we do everything within our power to fix the problem should one arrise.

Roboscooters is still a young company and so is Robstep ( the manufacturer ) our goal in the future is to not only to sell and service the robins but to sell and service Segways as well.

You say your intention is to sell and service Segways as well. Do you have an agreement with them to do this?

[RobinM1]

No no translator, I am from Eastern NC. We really meant no harm with our words in using segway style, we were under the impression that it's allowed on ebay, amazon, and all over the interent that it had become some what a way of describing a segway style vehicle. We cant take back our words and descriptions but we will do our best to refrain from calling the robin a seg.... alternative.

We have even seen pictures and videos of a segway and a robin together, so who knows what kind of deal they may or may not have worked out, most likely none.

In the video with the robin and the segway the robin literraly ran circles around the segway in a shopping mall. Agreed a segway has more clearance and can go more places, but robins are smaller and more convienent, they weigh only 40lbs and you could fit two of them in the trunck of a car if you wanted.

The robin even comes with an optional saddlebags, a seat, a Golf caddy for the golfers and a parking frame for the trunk.

You can also remote control the Robin M with an android powered smart phone or tablet if you want.

Unfortunately there is no where to test the robin that we know of here in the usa yet. The robins havent really caught on, and to that we know is an obvious draw back.

We put a post up earlier where we sold a Robin M1 to Aaron krauss ( The scrub daddy king from QVC ) He was seen on the tv show sharks. He gave us his permission to use him as a reference for the Robin. He was very interested in selling the robins on QVC but ultimately did not take the deal.
Were not giving his email out or anything but your free to google him.

[Lily Kerns]

Aha! I think this discussion is finally beginning to make some progress. That is good for everyone.

[KSagal]

Again, words. You have stated that you do not think we should judge the robbin on your words alone, but what else do you have to offer?

Let us know where someone we know, or we ourselves have access to a Robbin, and this conversation will take a different direction.

You have said that Robbins have not really caught on, but that indicates they were available for sale, and people chose not to buy them. Is this so? If so, where were they available to buy?

I have seen many products over the years where a few preproduction models were produced, and videos taken of them. Then based on those videos, sales are made. Some times the products are produced, and people get their products, sometimes they are never produced, and people do not get their machines.

I too have seen videos of machines that are being produced, (Segways) with other machines that are not being produced (Robbins?) in order to make the pre-production machines seem more real or more available. This does not make them so.

Segway made a centaur. Nice machine. I would love to own one. I rode it. It does not exist, in that they never made it for production, nor made it available for sale. Yet there are all kinds of videos of it. Of course, they also never went onto other peoples websites and tried to sell it or dealerships for it either...

Let us know when Robbins are available for sale, and where we should go (your own websites) to look more into buying one, if we want.

Again, talk is talk. I like how you said that the robbin ran circles around the segway. Have you ever been on either? You should enjoy your own product, but I will happily take that statement and turn it around on you. Get a Robbin, bring it to Boston, and we will put it next to the segway, and we can record it. I will go to a mall or where ever with you, and we will see who runs circles around whom.

Till that or something like it happens, talk is just talk.